


Secret Diary of a Call Girl side chapter 1: Archie and Ruby Meet

by DelilahBlueEyes



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-13
Updated: 2013-07-13
Packaged: 2017-12-19 07:39:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/881201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DelilahBlueEyes/pseuds/DelilahBlueEyes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ruby always goes for the bad boy, much as she knows it usually ends badly. While dealing with a particularly bad boy, a stranger steps in and saves her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Secret Diary of a Call Girl side chapter 1: Archie and Ruby Meet

**Author's Note:**

> These chapters are not necessarily part of the main story, but are generally prompts that have been given for the verse. Sometimes they're just things I want to add to fill out the story or wanted to write.

“You little bitch!” Ruby made it two steps before she was yanked backward off her feet by a fist in her hair. She couldn’t help the cry of pain that echoed down the darkened street as she sprawled across the grimy pavement. As good as her heels made her legs look, they were not made for escaping. She curled up on her side as a shadow fell across her, anticipating a kick with the vicious looking motorcycle boots she’d been admiring just a while ago as she sucked him off. She hoped he would lose his nerve in time for her to still be able to hobble her way to the hospital, or at least the nearest phone to call for help. But the kick never came. 

“Hey! Get away from her!” There was the sound of a scuffle above her but when she tried to track the movement her head spun so she covered her face with her hands and hoped that something worse hadn’t stumbled into her situation. The thud of a body hitting the ground only feet away from her startled her and she pulled her knees to her chest and waited for the world to stop spinning a bit. “Miss, are you alright?”

She might have nodded if she wasn’t certain that the movement would make her sick. The stranger carefully helped her to stand but when it became obvious that she wouldn’t be able to walk, he put arm behind her knees and picked her up. She wasn’t sure how far he carried her or even where he carried her, which would concern her more if he hadn’t just beat the crap out of someone who was planning to do the same to her. He managed to unlock and open a door without jostling her too much, shutting off the harsh overhead light with a murmured apology when she groaned weakly. When he finally set her down, it was on a couch of some sort and he sat himself on the low coffee table before her.

“May I take a look at your head? I think you probably have a concussion from that fall.” His fingers were gentle as he parted her hair at the back of her head to probe at her skull, pausing when she sucked in air through her teeth. “Yeah, looks like at least a minor concussion. I’m gonna get you some ice.”

Ruby dropped her head into her hands and tried to think through the haze in her brain. Belle was going to be so angry. She hated that Ruby dealt with the men that she did but she couldn’t help it. They were exciting. Sure, she got a rotten egg every once in a while but it didn’t happen often and she had fun otherwise. When her rescuer returned with a cloth-wrapped bag of ice, he also handed her a glass of ice and two ibuprophen, which she gratefully swallowed. She studied him over the rim of the glass as she drank slowly, hoping to rid herself of the lingering taste of semen.

He was a redhead, that was the first thing that she saw as he bent to tidy up the coffee table, seeming embarrassed by the few coffee mugs and magazines there. The dim light from the kitchen lamp haloed his shock of ginger hair and she found herself fingering one of her own red clip-in extensions as she watched him move about the room. There was a dull throbbing behind her eyes but she couldn’t go to bed yet.

“Thank you, for helping me out of there.” Her voice was soft so as to keep from aggravating her aching head, but she knew he heard when his head twitched slightly in her direction before tipping back down to hi work.

“No need to thank me. I’m only glad I happened to take a different route home tonight or I wouldn’t have heard.”

“Me too,” she admitted. “Although, I probably woulda been alright. He’s not that big a guy.”

“That doesn’t matter. It was wrong of him to hurt you. A man should never hit his girlfriend.”

“Um,” she pressed her fingers into her eyes to try to relieve some of the ache, glad that it also kept her from seeing his face when she spoke. “He wasn’t my boyfriend. He was my…. client.”

There were a few moments of silence, broken only when he shifted in the armchair he’d sat in, making the springs in the seat creak. “Well…”

She nodded with a sardonic smile. Yes, that was about what she’d expected. She could clearly hear the disgust and discomfort in the silence. But just as she was gathering the strength to stand up and leave as quickly and gracefully as she could, he surprised her.

“I hope you don’t think that makes it alright.” When she peered through the murky space between them, concern and a soft sort of sternness were all that she could see in his eyes. How refreshing. “No matter your… life choices, no one has a right to hurt you because of them.”

“Well, plenty of people would heartily disagree with you, but thanks.” She couldn’t laugh at him, not for his sincerity in this, so she sighed again and pulled out her cell phone. “What’s your address? I’m gonna call my friend to pick me up.”

He gave it to her, although he seemed hesitant. “I, ah, don’t mean to be presumptuous but you shouldn’t be alone tonight. With a concussion, you need to be carefully monitored throughout the night to make sure your injury isn’t worse than it seems. “

“Yeah, I have heard that, strangely enough.” If he’d seemed to be anything more than interested in her wellbeing, she would have mocked him, but he wasn’t like one of her rough-edged clients. This one was sweet as sugar. “And knowing Belle, she’ll demand to be the one to stay with me, pushy bint.”

He nodded in approval and she made the brief, quiet call, surprised at how little nagging she had to endure but fully aware that she would probably get an earful later. Belle was nothing if not a well-versed mother hen. They talked a bit while they waited, enough for her to learn that he was a doctor and for him to ask if she wanted more water and if the light in the kitchen was too bright and if she was warm enough. If she hadn’t been laboring under the strain of a head injury she would have found it adorable the way he fussed over her until there was a knock at the door.

“Ruby, oh my goodness! Are you alright? What happened? Oh, look at you!” Belle came fluttering to her side, one hand immediately wrapped around her own and the other pressed against her cheek as her friend looked into her eyes, apparently checking the dilation of her pupils. 

“I’m okay, I promise,” she muttered, suddenly embarrassed at the level of affection being displayed in front of a near stranger. “I just want to go home and sleep for the next week.”

Belle insisted she take off her ridiculous shoes and wrapped an arm about her waist to help her walk down to the cab she’d arrived in, pausing at the door when Ruby stopped moving.

“Thank you again… Sorry, what’s your name?”

“Archie.” He seemed ready to step forward and shake her hand but she snorted through her nose and he settled for an awkward wave. She thought of the flame haired comic book character and had to force back a giggle when the pain in her head flared up.

“Well, thank you, Archie.” She smiled as wide as she was able and was rewarded with the flush his face took on before the door shut behind them and they set off hobbling toward the cab. Once inside and settled with the car trundling down the narrow street, ruby laid her head gingerly on Belle’s shoulder, having to hunch slightly because of the height difference but so tired that it didn’t bother her. “So, time for nagging now?”

Belle simply folded her finger through her friend’s and stroked her hair soothingly. “No, sweetie, not tonight. You’ve been through enough. Thank god that man came along when he did, though. I’m so happy you’re alright.”

“Me too.” Ruby closed her eyes and smiled faintly, glad that she had someone to care so much for her. It made her miss her grandmother back in the ‘states. She should email her tomorrow. As sleep loomed closer around the edges of her mind, she found herself drifting from thought to thought with no particular focus and she wondered whether that was the pills Archie had given her or the effects of a long day and a knock to the noggin. Archie. A man who rescued a strange woman and thought a hooker deserved respect. Definitely not her usual, but nice. And she’d always had a bit of a thing for men who wore ties and tweed well. The image of his hair, lit from behind and glowing brilliantly followed her into her dreams, twisted and confused as they were.


End file.
